Police Union Doesn’t Want Officers Treated Like Black People
It Would be Funny if it Wasn’t so Tragic
The president of the New York State Police Benevolent Association (the NYPD union), Mike O’Meara, gave a press conference that was unbelievably oblivious to what is causing the backlash he complains of. Some of his comments include, “Stop treating us like animals and thugs. And start treating us with some respect.” This is exactly what black people have been saying for decades. Yet, study after study has shown that black people are perceived as more of a threat than white people. And actions by police officers show that ingrained belief results in greater force being used by officers along with faster escalation, all of which has a negative effect on the black community.
“We’ve been left out of the conversation.” Again, something black people have suffered from throughout our history as a nation. When the system wasn’t actively targeting black people, it has been actively ignoring them. “We’ve been vilified. The press is vilifying us.” How many videos have we seen where some white person targets a black person? Amy Cooper is one of the worst, flat out saying that she is going to tell the police that “there’s an African American man threatening my life.” That’s being vilified. As far as the press, they’ve believed everything the police have said up to this point. What has changed is everyone has a camera on their phones now and can record incidences to show what really happened. All the lies are coming out.
“Our legislators abandoned us.” Not only did legislators give you qualified immunity, which lets you literally get away with murder, but in New York your legislators have allowed the bad actions by officers to be hidden from the public for the last 40 years. If anyone was abandoned by the legislators, it was the public, especially those who have been assaulted by officers the most, minorities. What you, Mr. O’Meara, are really whining about is that officers will no longer have the privilege of having secrecy laws to protect criminal cops, something the union has fought to keep in place. Today, the New York legislature passed the repeal of 50a, the law that kept police officers’ personnel files confidential. Governor Andrew Cuomo will be signing the repeal.
It’s amazing how quickly police officers fall apart when they are treated the way they, and the system, have treated black people for hundreds of years.
“This Isn’t Stained”
O’Meara started his rant by holding up his badge and saying, “This isn’t stained by someone in Minneapolis. It’s still got a shine on it.” Again I have to point out the ridiculousness of his statement. What about NYPD Officer Vincent D’Andraia who is facing charges for his assault? What about the officer who was put on modified duty for throwing open the passenger door, of the vehicle he was traveling in, to hit a protester? What about the officers in the car who accelerated into the crowd? What about the multiple videos we’ve seen where people are being beaten with batons? No, Mr. O’Meara, that badge is nowhere near as shiny anymore as you want to believe it is.
WATCH ???? New York police boss Mike O'Meara went off on the media today:
"Stop treating us like animals and thugs and start treating us with some respect … Our legislators abandoned us. The press is vilifying us. It's disgusting." pic.twitter.com/CXOPARKff7
— August Takala (@AugustTakala) June 9, 2020